Adverts for ourselves

Well, hoo-hah! This Manila-born-and-bred writer (at least until his mid-20s) has just entered the rolls of Manila’s finest. Of honored artists, that is.

On Friday the 20th of June, not so humbly did we stand among the ranks of creative individuals chosen to receive the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan awards as part of the serial activities celebrating the 432nd anniversary of the Noble and Ever Loyal City.

The evening rites at Bulwagang Antonio J. Villegas at Manila City Hall followed the previous night’s Manila film fest awards ceremonies at the Aliw Theater, and preceded by several nights the highlight event honoring Outstanding Manilans at the Manila Hotel. That should be enough to explain why our own awarding ceremony was somewhat overshadowed in terms of media dissemination and promotion. (Wink, wink.)

But hey, ours was held closer to home, in fact at the very bosom of the city administration offices, and where a wraparound mural by the late great Carlos "Botong" Francisco had everyone in attendance craning their necks in appreciation.

Can’t really blame desk editors, nor Manila’s Tourism office staff, who’ve been busy churning out other, more newsworthy releases such as those on Mayor Lito Atienza’s Baywalk linear park and the pedestrianization of Avenida Rizal (see; only a true-blue Manileño would still call it that).

Then again, perhaps this writer was included among the 2003 Patnubay awardees precisely because a hand was needed in trumpeting the affair post facto. They must have known false modesty was never our cup of tea. And that we would unfailingly advertise ourselves and our friends, old or freshly minted.

When we received word of the accolade we looked up its meaning. Fr. Leo English’s Filipino-English Dictionary translates "patnubay" into "guide, escort, companion." Then it says further: "Guide, in the moral and spiritual sense." Oh, my. Heavens. Holy smoke. Were we worth it? Were we deserving? Could we ever serve as a moral and spiritual guide, even of the arts and culture?

Heck, okay, we’re easy. If you say so.

How can one refuse an award from a metropolitan mayor who of late appears to have turned the tables on erstwhile critics lambasting his allegedly skewed sense of priorities? The "wrecker" of the hallowed Jai Alai building, the "despoiler" of Mehan Gardens, the putative "tree-cutter" of the Arroceros riverside park was now gaining plaudits for his urban renewal successes -— from the Liwasang Bonifacio makeover to the Plaza Miranda facelift, complete with piazza columns, to the adroit beautification of the Roxas Blvd. stretch facing the glorious sunset of Manila Bay, from Manila, that is, never mind that ever-shabby neighbor Pasay.

Mayor Lito Atienza – the LA in MayniLA who rivals presidentiable Raul Roco when it comes to sporting bodaciously floral polo shirts – he done good of late, he smell so good now so best to shake his hand. Especially when his other hand would be proffering a citation declaring us to be part of a tradition.

For the Gabi ng Parangal of "MayniLA, Kay SigLA… Atin Siya!," the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan 2003 awardees counted Froilan L. Hong for arkitektura, Roberto Bulatao Feleo for eskultura, Jose Tence Ruiz for makabagong pamamaraan, Celeste Legaspi for musika, this writer for panitikan, Gloria Romero for pelikula, Charlie S. Co for pintura, Dr. Rustica C. Carpio for tanghalan/dula, and Ferdinand B. Jose for sayaw.

We were in good company, too, not only on the basis of the current crop, but the predecessors’ list, which includes, in literature, such stalwarts as Manuel Bernabe, Amado V. Hernandez and Nick Joaquin for 1964, Fr. Horacio de la Costa, SJ for 1969, Ligaya David Perez, N.V.M. Gonzalez, Bienvenido Santos and Jose Corazon de Jesus for 1971, Edlberto K, Tiempo for 1974, Kerima Polotan Tuvera for 1976, Estrella Alfon for 1978, Francisco Sionil Jose for 1979, Adrian Cristobal for 1980, Francisco Arcellana for 1981… Let’s stop there. I’m sure our latter-day contemporaries won’t mind; they’re often namedropped in this space anyway.

Gloria Romero was a no-show for health reasons, or so it was said. Celeste Legaspi sang marvelously instead, and Alfonso "Coke" Bolipata essayed a couple of classic native airs. The Bayanihan Dance company also thrilled the audience with a couple of numbers, the better to honor its costumes and design director Isabel A. Santos who received the Gawad Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas award.

The Tanging Parangal award went to First Lady-able Susan Roces, still so lovely indeed, while the highest accolade, the Parangal Diwa ng Lahi, was given National Artist Napoleon Abueva, who had crafted the bronze medallions that were soon burdening our chests.

Our former colleague at MTRCB, "Rusty" Carpio, herself looked Imeldifically lovely that night in a butterfly-sleeved terno; such was our regret that the point-and-shoot camera we brought along ran out of film to record her for posterity, or at least for the next FEU coffeetable book.

We kidded "Bogie" Tence Ruiz over the "mystery" surrounding the category he had won it for. What was makabagong pamamaraan, we asked him teasingly. Did it involve his fashion statement that allowed him to don rubber shoes to counterpoint his elegant barong Tagalog? Then we noticed in the program that his predecessor, the late great Santiago Bose, had won for the same category when it was introduced last year. Oh, we remarked to the ever-affable Manila councilor Kim Atienza, who was Santi’s good buddy: now we know why the field of new or mixed media had to be introduced; you couldn’t justify Santi’s winning a prize for such a conventional category as painting, right?

Bogie sat to our right, and Charlie Co to our left, as the rites commenced. The first of our co-awardees was called to receive the prize on the dais, where stood the Mayor and his wife together with co-chair of the awards committee Atty. Espiridion D. Laxa. The awardees had to march through the aisle in dramatic fashion, to triumphant piano music, bathed in an ethereal glow of spotlights that made one feel he was being introduced as a competitor in a world billiards tourney, short of the use of a smoke machine.

It was all so thrilling. The Mayor shook the awardee’s hand and bestowed the Abueva medallion around one’s neck, then handed the citation along with an envelope containing a generous check (the amount of which was certainly nothing to sneeze at). Then the awardee turned to face Mrs. Evelina Atienza for the quaintly charming conferment called the Putungan, where a crown of sampaguita flowers was placed on one’s head.

The first time it occurred, Bogie, Charlie and I looked at one another askance, rather sheepishly, undoubtedly in collective wonder over how we were supposed to make our way back to our seats thus crowned. The answer proved to be: Gingerly, sheepishly.

We were made to understand that a Patnubay awardee would now qualify for the next level which is the Gawad Gatpuno Villegas award, thence the ultimate prize that is the Diwa ng Lahi. It takes some time, however. Billy Abueva, for instance, won the Patnubay way back in 1966. The good thing about the wait, if at all one got lucky eventually, was the knowledge that only the Patnubay awardees turned subject to the Putungan.

But don’t get us wrong. We enjoyed the evening, and regretted only our failure to recognize the practical as well as photo-op need to have gone down on one knee —- as one knowledgeable awardee did – to offer a manly head in all graciousness for the sampaguita crowning.

Thanks to Mayor and Mrs. Lito Atienza and all those who made the awards possible.

We’ve been surfing the Net a bit lately, checking out certain websites set up by friends. One good one for literature lovers is Ian Casocot’s "A Critical Survey of Philippine Literature" at www.geocities.com/icasocot/phil_lit.html, which consistently expands its reach to include numerous sample works of Filipino writers, including expatriates. Poems, stories, essays, bio notes, and a nearly comprehensive list of journals, writers’ centers and various website links are provided.

Another literary website has also been put up by Gene Alcantara who’s back in London from his two-year posting at The British Council office in Warsaw. The url is http://alcantara. freeyellow.com. It’s barely a start-up, so don’t expect much. But knowing Gene, soon this site should provide fresh additions to Pinoy literature in the Net, with special focus on our writers in the UK and Europe, such as Edgardo B. Maranan, Perfecto "Jun" Terra, and Reine "Bonnie" Melvin in Paris.

Similarly, the new Bencab website put up by Rico Hizon, who’s based in Singapore, has now expanded and improved much. Try it at www. bencab.com

We also found time to access www.highchair.com.ph run by young poets Allan Popa, Marc Gaba and friends. It includes fresh interviews with Filipino poets and writers. We noted a good review by Kristine Domingo of The Edith L. Tiempo Reader. We were also pleasantly surprised to find an essay by Gelacio Guillermo as a follow-up reaction to the conduct of the Asia-Pacific Conference-Workshop on Indigenous & Contemporary Poetry held last August. "Gelas" gets across some fine points with entirely lucid writing.

Then there’s the phenomenal e-zine Our Own Voice, at www.oovrag.com, which should be due for a Webby award soon.

The following press release we didn’t fish out from OOVRAG, but elsewhere, from among messages sent by Net friends and lovers.

"Our Own Voice, a literary e-zine for Filipinos in the diaspora, is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2003 Global Filipino Literary Awards. The Awards honor authors, agents and publishers of books by Filipino authors from around the world, published in 2002.

"Noel Alumit’s Letters to Montgomery Clift, a growing-up piece set against the repressive days of the Philippine martial law era, garnered the Award for Fiction. The novel is published by McAdams/Cage. (Writer’s note: We reviewed the book in this space, issue of Nov. 25, 2002.)

"Love Gathers All, a groundbreaking collection featuring Philippine and Singaporean poets, received the Award for Poetry. LGA’s editorship was shared by Alvin Pang and Aaron Lee of Singapore with Alfred Yuson and Ramon Sunico of the Philippines. The collection was simultaneously published by Anvil Publishing (Philippines) and Ethos Books (Singapore).

"The final category, Award for Literary Work in Drama, went to Mulat, an anthology of television scripts in Pilipino by playwright Frank G. Rivera and published by University of Santo Tomas Publishing House.

"’It is the intention of Our Own Voice to recognize publishers worldwide who encourage the literary output of Filipino authors,’ Remé-Antonia Grefalda, editor, explained, ‘because generations of Filipino readers are coming of age and are hungry for contemporary literature on the Filipino experience in the diaspora.’

"The awardees will receive a plaque citation honoring the author and the publisher; the print edition of Our Own Voice Literary Magazine, an anthology of essays, short stories and poetry featured on-line in 2001; and a copy of Reproductions of the Empty Flagpole by multi-awarded poet Eileen Tabios. Grefalda also acknowledged the contribution of Marsh Hawk Press (New York) which is donating a copy of Reproductions… to a library of the awardee’s choice.

"Excerpts and selections from the awardees’ works will be featured in Our Own Voice’s July/August on-line issue."

The co-editors from Manila and Singapore were asked to select three poems each from LGA to submit for representation in that issue. RayVi and I selected poems by Simeon Dumdum, Jr., Ricardo M. de Ungria and Marne L. Kilates. Our Singaporean co-editors should soon do the same, except that Aaron Lee is still winding up his Viennese honeymoon. Get back to earth now, bro.

Lastly, another piece of good news came our way recently: Communication from the Rockefeller Foundation in New York, officially inviting us to fulfill a four-week writing grant (for a novel) during the autumn session at The Bellagio Center’s Villa Serbelloni in Northern Italy, overlooking marvelously scenic Lake Cuomo.

Last year the nearly regular Filipino representation in this hallowed residency center for writers, artists and scholars was fulfilled by our buddy Butch Dalisay, in the footsteps of the collaborative team of Dr. Marjorie Evasco and Dr. Edna Manlapaz. Other previous Pinoy resident grantees include Eric Gamalinda, Ricardo M. de Ungria, Dr. Leonard Casper and Linda Ty Casper, Frankie Jose, and Virginia R. Moreno.

Oh, and there was a recent year when a Filipino writer/academic from UP went and spent a week or so at the Center, but cut short his stay reportedly upon realizing, and complaining, that he found himself amidst opulent surroundings and a lifestyle utterly anathema to his Third-World orientation.

I wonder if we’ll feel that way at The Bellagio Center come October. Accompanied by our dutiful spouse who’s much into Mediterranean cuisine, we certainly won’t bet on it.